Capital slips past Flathead

The coulda, shoulda, wouldas mounted up and got the best of the Flathead Braves football team on a wet and dismal Friday at Legends Stadium as the Braves fell 21-7 to visiting Helena Capital.

"I feel like we've had two 'coulda, woulda, shoulda' games," said Flathead head coach Grady Bennett afterward.

"We had opportunities to win. We had some chances. Now we've got to figure out how to do that."

Flathead (1-1, 1-2) had numerous opportunities Friday - a fumble recovered on Capital's (3-0) 41-yard line, a 12-yard touchdown pass called back on an ineligible receiver flag, and an almost sure touchdown pass that fell incomplete.

"We will eliminate those," Bennett vowed. "We will eliminate that stuff. They'll bounce back.

Those all combined to make for a somber lockerroom meeting.

"I still don't think they know how good they are, how good they could be," Bennett said of the Braves.

Flathead started off heartily enough - a 33-yard run by senior running back Scott Cassel put the Braves up 7-0 with 8:33 left in the first half.

The Flathead defense forced the Bruins into a three-and-out series, took the ball on their own 44 and used up nearly five minutes on a 12-play drive that ended - seemingly - when quarterback Reed Watkins found Jason Russell in the end zone.

But Russell was deemed ineligible on a controversial call and the score was negated.

"One play doesn't lose you the game," Bennett said.

But the Bruins seemed to draw strength from that point on. Capital finished the first half with a grand total of 26 yards, a fumble and an interception.

But the second half was a completely different story.

The Bruins totaled up 197 yards (all but 65 of it on the ground), three touchdowns and a defensive effort that stifled the Braves.

"They came out in that second half, it was impressive how they took control of the line of scrimmage," Bennett said.

Capital's first touchdown was a three-yard sneak by quarterback Jake Parsley. That capped a 50-yard drive that included no passes.

The go-ahead scored came at the 6:38 mark of the fourth quarter - a five-yard run by senior Francis Reishus. The Bruins iced the game with a 30-yard run by Reishus with 1:08 left.

All in all, Capital ran the ball 41 times for 151 yards. Parsley connected on 3-of-8 passes for 71 yards and an interception.

Reishus had 126 of those yards.

Flathead did nearly as well with198 total yards.

Cassel carried 18 times for 79 yards and Flathead quarterbacks Brock Osweiler and Reed Watkins combined to go 13-for-21 for 105 yards and one interception.

"This is an amazing group of kids," Bennett said.

"They are going to win a lot of football games. They've worked so hard and they've improved so much. It's a young season."

He went on to add that Kevin Ah-Hi, the Coeur d'Alene running back who was in town two weeks ago, racked up 261 yards and three touchdowns last weekend against East Valley High of Spokane, Wash.

"This crew shut him down," Bennett said.

The Braves travel next Friday to Great Falls to take on Great Falls High. The Bison fell 26-20 to Billings Senior.

IntInt

Bruins 21, Braves 7

Capital 0 0 7 14 - 21

Flathead 0 7 0 0 - 7

Second Quarter

F-Cassel 33 run (Haugan kick), 8:33.

Third Quarter

HC - Parsley 3 run (Dalton kick), 6:02.

Fourth Quarter

HC - Reishus 5 run (Dalton kick), 6:38.

HC - Reishus 30 run (Dalton kick), 1:08.

HC F

First downs 9 12

Total Net Yards 222 198

Rushes-yards 41-151 37-93

Passing 71 105

Comp-Att-Int 3-8-1 13-21-1

Fumbles-Lost 2-2 2-0

Penalties-Yards 4-35 3-26 1/2

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING-Helena Capital, Francis Reishus 23-126, Quinn Noel 8-35, Jeremy Grady 1-7, Corey Peterson 1 -minus 1, Brian Nickel 1- minus 2, Lance Parsley 5-minus 14. Flathead, Scott Cassel 18-79, Reed Watkins 13-34, Garrett Smith 1-minus 8, Brock Osweiler 5-minus 20.

PASSING-Helena Capital, Parsley 3-8-1-71. Flathead, Brock Osweiler 5-11-1-55, Reed Watkins 8-10-0-50.

RECEIVING-Helena Capital, Devin Sullivan 1-56, Joel Nay 1-9, Brian Nickel 1-6. Flathead, Foston Reilly 3-47, Reed Watkins 2-31, Jareth Wilson 2-23, Nick Haegele 3-19, Sam Tedrow 1-16, Scott Cassel 1-5, Chris Hooley 1-3.